


can we get back to normal?

by remi_wolf



Series: The Life and Times of Teddy Blaseball [9]
Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Emotional Hurt, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jaylen gets punched, Mental Health Issues, Trust Issues, Violence, what can i say she sorta deserves it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: can we get back to normal?or:selected scenes in the fraught friendship of Theodore Duende and Jaylen Hotdogfingers and the trials, tribulations, and tortures the captain of the Seattle Garages went through as he watched his friends die, his family get torn apart, and then watched as a once-admired pitcher hit him with a pitch.perhaps, after everything, they could get back to normal.
Relationships: Theodore Duende & Jaylen Hotdogfingers
Series: The Life and Times of Teddy Blaseball [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1918738
Kudos: 3
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions





	1. discipline era

**Author's Note:**

> Violence is a lot of Teddy yelling and screaming at Jaylen, him punching her, and then eventually it's implied that she hits him with a pitch.  
> Mostly things end up vaguely okay at the end?

## after ruby tuesday

Teddy took a deep breath as he looked around the locker room, making sure that there wasn’t anyone else there. Hopefully there wasn’t, considering he didn’t want to do this in front of any of the others. Even if Jaylen had already hit a half-dozen players, with the consequences playing out in technicolor rainbows, he didn’t want to be _that_ captain that just screams at his players in front of each other. Once it was clear that it was just him and Jaylen, he took a deep breath.

“Jaylen _fucking_ Hotdogfingers!” 

There was a brief pause as Teddy heard a locker door slam shut. “The fuck do you want, Duende?”

Delightful. Screaming match already, and Teddy walked around to look at Jaylen, watching as she turned to stare at him, or through him, or something. He hated the way he felt every time she looked at him, as though she was staring into his soul or something. Maybe she was trying to size him up to figure out what he would look like going up in flames, just like those three Tigers?”

“Only two were Tigers.”

“I don’t care!” Teddy took a shaking breath, hands tightening into fists at his side as he looked back up at Jaylen. “Three people are _dead_ , and the ticker tape says that it’s basically your fault! ‘A Debt has been collected,’ isn’t that right? What are you doing?”

“I’m not doing _anything_. What makes you think I’m doing anything with this?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe hitting people with blaseballs?” Teddy rolled his eyes as he looked at her before pointing back out towards the field, upset and annoyed and mostly _scared_ as he thought about all of this and thought about what it would mean if Jaylen continued. “I can’t let you keep pitching, you realize that, right?”

“And you realize that I can’t just _not_ pitch, right? And it’s not like I killed them. _And_ , it’s not like I meant to hit them.” Jaylen huffed as she looked at Teddy, and the fact that her voice was level (dead, he couldn’t help but think that it was dead) simply made him feel worse about being so upset about all of this. “A pitcher has to pitch, right?”

He knew that there was a point where he shouldn’t be upset with this, and he shouldn’t be upset with her, but he couldn’t help but feel as though his trust had been betrayed or something. Of course there wasn’t any guarantee that anyone was safe in this splort, but it also felt as though Jaylen could be doing more to keep people from dying. After all, it had been _ages_ since anyone had died. Well...maybe not so long, but it had never been like this. Three incinerations in one game. That hadn’t ever happened before, not that he could remember. 

“No one’s ever been hit with a ball before, Jaylen. And this is...this is more than we’ve ever seen before. Seriously, this is ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous.” Jaylen rolled her eyes, turning back to the locker finally and she tugged off her uniform’s shirt and Teddy sighed quietly.

Why was she here? Why did she get into uniform when he knew that she wasn’t pitching. She wasn’t supposed to be pitching for another three games, and Teddy couldn’t imagine a reason she’d be here trying to practice during a game, instead of just waiting until after the game instead. It almost felt like she was rubbing her presence in the face of the rest of the league. Of course people would be able to see that she was there, see the reason for the incinerations and the pain, and she was wearing her Garages uniform on top of him. He already saw the Pies look and stare at her in horror, and then the way they looked at the other Garages...

He didn’t like it, that’s all. 

He didn’t know how to explain the knot of fear and pain in his chest as he thought about the way everyone would start to treat the other Garages. He could take the fear, he knew that. He was used to being looked at weirdly, as was Allison, and he knew that Arturo would get off mostly unscathed, but he didn’t know how some of the others would. Luis? Ollie? Spliff? How would any of them react to being the new villain of the league, instead of the gods?

“Look, I get it, you don’t like me, but I’m not about to stop pitching. I _can’t_ stop pitching, so you can deal with it, or get lost, alright?”

Teddy blinked, pulled from his thoughts as he looked at Jaylen before shaking his head. “No. _No_. You’re not pitching anymore. You’d be insane if you think I’ll let you pitch again! Not after what happened last time!”

There was just a moment of warning as Teddy saw Jaylen reach into her locker before a blaseball went flying, just barely missing his head. He practically felt the stitching of the leather brush against his face, and he couldn’t help but bristle, pulling his glasses off as took a few steps towards her, only to stop as he watched as she huffed a vague laugh before turning away. She shouldn’t be able to move, not with how angry he was and how pointed he knew his glare was. 

“You’re an idiot if you think you could stop me from pitching, and I didn’t think you were that much of an idiot, Teddy.” 

Teddy took a shaking breath as he looked away, trying to ignore the tremble in his limbs, trying to ignore the way that he was still so terrified to stand there alone with her. Would she make him unstable if she hit him outside of a game? Did she _want_ to hurt and lead people to their deaths? He didn’t even know how to begin asking that. 

It took a few moments for Teddy to finally find his breath and his words. “Do you want this to happen?”

Jaylen turned away from Teddy, taking a deep breath as she looked at the locker before quietly tugging off her shirt. Teddy couldn’t help but feel the way his breath seized at the sight of the scars from her incineration and the time in the trench, and then whatever happened to her when she got pulled out of the Shadows. “Do you want to hate me?”

“I don’t—”

Teddy’s words died in his throat as she gave him a dead look. 

“Don’t lie to me.”

“No. I don’t want to hate you.” Teddy took a deep breath before turning away. “Don’t hit anyone else.”

Jaylen seemed to mutter something, though he couldn’t hear it as he walked out, slamming the locker room door again. 

* * *

## after dominic

The game wasn’t even over yet. 

The game wasn’t over yet, and Teddy couldn’t stop the way his feet immediately started running towards Jaylen. 

The crack had been audible throughout the field, even if he supposed it wasn’t much of a crack at all. The crack was more of a dull thud as Dominic had tried to back away from the ball flying at him. Teddy had watched as the ball curved in the air, just slightly, and he desperately hoped that it hadn’t been right. The blooddrain was sticky, practically getting in his eyes and there had to be some sort of mistake. Dominic couldn’t have been hit. He _couldn’t_. Teddy couldn’t lose both of them. But even from here, as he watched Dom start to make his walk to first, he could see the instability settling in. 

He nearly made it to Jaylen before he felt arms wrap around him and hold him tight, bringing him down to the ground and tripping him before he could make it the rest of the way. 

“No! Teddy, no, you can’t do that here, seriously, the Umps won’t like it. It might not be an Eclipse, but you really can’t risk it.” Allison’s words were sharp and swift in Teddy’s ear, and Teddy couldn’t help the half-sob of frustration and fear and _hatred_ he felt towards Jaylen. He should have stopped her. He should have kept her from ever stepping onto the field again, and he _knew_ this would happen, no matter how many times she told him in that same dead voice that she’d try harder not to hit anyone after every game she pitched. Even if there had been that one game she hadn’t hurt anyone...there had been the last two games she _had_. And he should have stopped it. 

“Back in position!” 

Teddy couldn’t help the near-sob as he tried to pull away from Allison. At the very least, Jaylen could look at him as he struggled to try to get to her to punch her and throw a ball at her face or _something_. Anything to get a reaction from her other than that dead-eyed stare she had. 

“Teddy.” Teddy stilled as he felt the shaking hand against his shoulder, and he glanced up at Dominic’s concerned look. “Just get back into position, seriously. I’ll be alright. Just deal with it afterwards, alright? I’ll be fine. Tomorrow’s birds.”

But Dominic had to last an entire week. Practically an entire week, unstable and flickering like the snow-covered scene of a television with bad reception. Teddy had a bad feeling that he wouldn’t survive. Not this. And he had a feeling from the look in Dom’s eye that Dom didn’t think he would either. 

Teddy took a shaking breath after a moment before pulling himself up, looking between Allison and Dominic before reaching over to pull Dom into a hug. It wasn’t the time or place for it, but he didn’t know when else he’d get the chance. He pressed his forehead to Dom’s, or at least as well as he could with the helmet on Dom’s head. “May they all be birds.” He could barely whisper the words before he pulled away. The umpire really was looking concerning, and he quickly bolted back to his position once again, trying to ignore the shaking in his limbs and the fact that Jaylen _still_ refused to look at him.

* * *

## after refinancing

“Must be pretty happy.”

Teddy took a deep breath as he looked up at the clouds running past them in the sky, wondering if they would bring blood or peanuts, or if they’d simply hide something worse, and he finally glanced over to the source of the voice. He took a shaking breath as he saw Jaylen, less ashen in her cheeks and more lively in her gaze, and he turned to look back up at the sky once more. 

“You gotta talk to me eventually.”

“I can tell you to fuck off for making us the villain before getting rewarded for all the lives you destroyed.”

“That wasn’t me, and you know it.”

Teddy rolled his eyes and just raised a middle-finger salute to Jaylen as he closed his eyes. He didn’t want to deal with her. He hadn’t wanted to deal with her for nearly forty days of the season, and however much of the postseason they had dealt with beyond that. He wanted to lay here in the grass and maybe eventually disappear. Maybe then he’d finally be left alone and never have to deal with the heartbreak and disaster of the season. 

“Theodore, you’re being ridiculous.”

“And I told you to fuck off. You killed my brother in law.”

“I didn’t kill him!”

“Fuck. Off.”

* * *

## after allison

It took a season since she condemned Dominic to incineration, but the feeling of Jaylen’s jaw under his fist felt far more satisfying than he could ever have anticipated, as was the sight of Jaylen’s crimson blood trickling out the side of her mouth. He couldn’t help the grin on his face, even as Ron dragged him away, pulling him back. 

The team was yelling at him, and screaming, and telling him off for it, but Teddy didn’t care. Damn him being the team captain, but he lost his _sister_ , and he hoped Jaylen understood just how much she had taken from him. Lang, and then Spliff, and now Allison, and that was after everyone he and the league lost last season.

The sight of Jaylen, staring at the blood on her hands, and pressing her fingers to her pulse point was especially satisfying as he let the Garages scream and shout at him and ask what the fuck he was thinking.


	2. peace and prosperity

##  after the god battle

There is a quiet pub roughly half-way between Seattle and San Francisco. Really, it is far closer to San Francisco than Seattle, but the particulars didn’t matter. What did matter was this town was far enough from any of the blaseball league teams that no one really gave either of them a second look. In truth, they were far more concerned with the end of some festival or another, and that allowed for two star blaseball players to meet in peace and quiet. 

Teddy settled a rounded chair next to a fireplace, listening to the idle chatter from the dart competition on the other side of the dining room, and he glanced out the windows to the plaza down below. He could see someone drumming on five-gallon buckets, accompanied by someone on the bagpipes and another on hurdy-gurdy, and he couldn’t help the small smile as he glanced back down at the slightly-sticky dark table. Heavy footsteps sounded from the steep staircase, and he glanced up in time to see Jaylen, and his hands tightened around his wrist, phantom fear clamping a vice around his chest. While he knew they had seen each other since he had been hit by one of her pitches, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was the next time he’d be hit by one of her pitches, even if he had only ever been Repeating, rather than Unstable.

It took a few minutes as they stared at each other across the dining room, and it wasn’t until a server walked out of the kitchen and bumped into her so near the staircase that she finally walked past the bar to join him at the small table. 

“So..."

“So..." Teddy took a shaking breath as he forced his hands to relax, so that he wouldn’t entirely betray himself as being so tense and terrified as he was. “You’re looking good. Lovers red suits you.”

Jaylen snorted quietly, rolling her eyes, and Teddy couldn’t help but manage a small smile as he looked up at her after another moment, glad to see that she had a spark of life in her dark eyes, and her skin wasn’t nearly as ashen as it used to be while she had been indebted to unknown forces. 

“You’re...looking better than I thought you would,” Jaylen said softly as she looked at Teddy, and he glanced away, looking back out the window, trying not to think about whether that was intended as a compliment or an insult. 

“I don’t know how I’m doing, so I suppose that’s something.”

“Randy and Dom were Released, though.”

Teddy looked at Jaylen, raising an eyebrow and wondering if she  _ really _ wanted to get into that. 

Jaylen shrugged, glancing away. “I don’t know. Thought that would help. Clearly not. You’re the one that asked to meet up. I don’t know why, if you’re going to act like this.”

“I’m not acting any way.” Teddy couldn’t help the slight snap of words as he looked at her before looking away quickly. “Sorry, I..."

“You’re still scared of me.”

It took a few moments, but Teddy finally nodded, hands tightening momentarily on his wrists before he managed to relax again. He didn’t know what he should say in response to her, whether he should reassure her that he wasn’t actually scared of her, or that he didn’t still despise her for shattering his family worse than he had expected at all. At least the appearance of a waiter spared him the necessity to take their orders. After a moment of awkward small-talk and requests, Jaylen’s eyes fell onto Teddy once more. 

“So. Scared of a ghost.”

“Zombie, but sure.” Teddy shrugged, taking a deep breath and trying not to make as big of a deal about it as it was. “You...you have to realize that you were  _ terrifying _ the past three seasons, right?”

Jaylen looked at Teddy, eyes far too piercing, and Teddy forced himself not to look away because of it. “I thought things had gotten better after my loan was refinanced.”

Teddy shrugged again, trying to figure out a way to explain it properly, and he finally shifted as he saw the elegant glass set in front of him, across from Jaylen’s pint. “Your refinanced loan might not have killed anyone, but you shattered the band. And then it was consolidated, and you ended up hitting me.”

“You know I didn’t mean to do that.” Jaylen frowned as she looked at Teddy, shifting as she sat up straighter. 

Of course Teddy knew that she didn’t mean to hit him with a ball, but after an entire season of watching people get hit with her blaseballs, an entire season of watching his team fall apart, an entire season of waiting for when reverberation would reveal its ugly side, he couldn’t help but still feel on edge next to her. Even if she helped to bring down the Peanut, even if he had watched it himself, he still didn’t know if he could trust that she was alright and safe to be around now. 

“Teddy, seriously, you need to realize that I’m fine now. No debts. Still a part of the league, but...I’m not indebted to anything. We killed a god. You don’t need to be scared of me anymore.”

Teddy huffed, taking a shaking breath before wrapping his arms around himself as he leaned back. “Please stop trying to convince me. I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Your pitches will still be dangerous, I know it. ”

There was a long pause, Teddy refusing to look at Jaylen, and Jaylen not saying anything. Eventually, their food got set in front of him, and he idly picked at a few of the chips smothered in cheese and bacon and garlic, wishing that he was in a better mood to enjoy the actually-amazing food. At least he could taste more than ash with the drink, but even then, he still couldn’t quite manage to swallow past the knot of shame and fear lodged in his throat and chest. He shouldn’t be scared of Jaylen, that much was obvious. He knew it wasn’t at all fair for him to hold onto the fear and hatred he had for her, considering he had told the others time and time again that Jaylen was as much a victim as any of them, and probably more. Absolute hypocrite, he was, but he didn’t want them to treat Jaylen worse, just because he couldn’t be a proper adult and get over the terror he saw every time she walked towards one of his friends, or even himself on the rare occasions she pitched against him. 

“What if I hit you? With a pitch, I mean.”

Teddy blinked as he looked up at her, surprised by the question, and he took a deep breath. Get hit with a pitch. Intentionally get beaned by a blaseball, and hope that he was fine. It was almost the end of the week anyways, he’d be fine in a day or two, even if he  _ wasn’t _ unaffected by the ball, and this way...He could see the unease in Jaylen’s eyes, and perhaps she was just as scared as he was that she would end up beaning and hurting people again as well. 

“If you let me look at you,” Teddy finally said after a few moments. “Properly, without my glasses.”

The agreement had Jaylen’s expression breaking into a small smile, and she nodded. “And you say you’re not a medusa.”

“Duende, Jay.” Teddy sighed softly, a small smile on his face as he stood up and walked over to the waiter, explaining that they’d be back in about ten minutes, and to not clear their table at all. Once he was sure they understood, he nodded to Jaylen, and they walked over to the patch of park at the end of the block. 

Both of them had blaseballs on them, in their bags. What sort of players would they be if they didn’t? Teddy even had a few bats in his car, but he didn’t grab them, knowing that he’d be far too tempted to hit the ball if he had one in his hand. Within minutes, they were standing at opposite ends of the grass, as close to a proper field as they could manage for the moment. While there wasn’t any reason that it would actually work without a proper field, and while it felt remarkably like Teddy was willingly walking to his death, there was still something that helped to unwind the tension coiled deep in his chest as he looked at Jaylen and the ball she held in his hand. 

He could get hit and be safe. Jaylen was safe now, and he knew that. She was safe, and he was safe, and it was the off-season and the elections had just barely passed, and he would be safe until the first game of the next season. 

“Ready?”

Teddy took a deep breath, nodding. “Ready.”

Jaylen nodded, taking a deep breath as she quietly placed her fingers at her pulse point, just for a moment, before settling into her pitching stance. After hours and years of watching her, Teddy knew it well, recognized the familiar lines of her fastball being prepared, and he closed his eyes as she pitched the ball.

**Author's Note:**

> And there we have it, another fic finished! I hope everyone liked it. It was interesting and fun and nice to write some of these interactions I've seen between these two characters. I haven't had a chance to write any of them, so I finally took the chance since now I've got a deadline to write all of my Blaseball Season 1-11 fic before the next round starts ^_^*. But yeah! I hope you enjoyed this one, comments and kudos are always welcome! Until next time!


End file.
